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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632611">High School Musical in Hawkins, Indiana</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/celbel/pseuds/celbel'>celbel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>High School Musical (Movies), Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Closeted Character, Crossover, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, High School Musical AU, M/M, Tags will be added, also billy Doesn't Dance, billys the one with a bat this time, high school musical crossover, omg we are so excited for this, our first official collab!, we do not know what we are doing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:00:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,048</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632611</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/celbel/pseuds/celbel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You're the playmaker... not a singer... right?” Billy sneered, cornering Steve at the entrance of the locker room. He looked exhausted, hair still wet from the showers, cheeks red from the cardio. But this was his chance and he was going to take it.</p><p>When Steve answered the grinning asshole in front of him, he was finally fed up. </p><p>“Did you ever think that maybe I could be both?” he tried to argue with him, his tone indicating that <em>Billy</em> was the fool - and he was, because after that, Steve pushed into him, shoulder to shoulder, knocking through the brick wall that had just cornered him in and not looking back.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prequel: New Year's Eve, '84</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Living in my own world, didn’t understand<br/>
That anything can happen when you take a chance</em>
</p><p>The ceiling was lined with fairy lights and the large windows took up most of the wall facing the beautiful Indiana canvas covered in snow like a thick duvet stuffed with feathers like in the movies. The night felt like a movie, boy meets girl. Steve had never tried that before, experienced the moment where “time stood still” - he thought it was overrated. He’d met plenty of girls, had said all the right things, had all the kisses. Nothing like this though. Nothing like that night with Nancy Wheeler at midnight, sharing a New Year’s kiss on the dance floor, bodies pressed up against their backs and arms. They’d sung together, that night. The words flashed pink on a karaoke screen as they sung a song Steve didn’t know. Nancy was shy, but so was he. Had denied climbing the stage until he saw her. And the words so easily escaped his tongue as he sung it for the first time:</p><p>
  <em>I know that something has changed </em><br/>
Never felt this way<br/>
And right here, tonight 
</p><p>
  <em>This could be the start of something new.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! </p><p>We are so excited to begin writing and posting this story! HSM and ST deserved a crossover with Steve in the role of Troy, and Billy who just forced his way in there! Don't worry, though, we know exactly where to put Billy in this story and we've found a great spot for him - he's going to take up plenty of space at the school! Whether King Steve likes it or not. </p><p>Hope you like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was Billy’s first day at Hawkins High and to say he wasn’t looking forward to it would be an understatement. If anything, he was <em> dreading </em> it. First off, he didn’t even <em> want </em> to be in Hawkins in the first place, he just wanted to finish high school back in California. It wasn’t his fault that his dad chose to marry Susan, and why should he have to face the consequences? Second, being the new kid <em> sucked </em>. He’d never had to be in that situation before, but he got the gist. Talking to a bunch of different people, having to navigate your way around a new territory, being a stranger in a foreign land, sort of thing. There was no way it was going to be fun. </p><p> </p><p>At least he had baseball tryouts to look forward to. He had already talked to the coach prior to the beginning of school, starting after winter break. He had said that they had an opening for a pitcher and he was a shoe in. He had been playing baseball since he was four, on his dad's accord, of course. He hadn’t liked it at first, but now it was basically his life. He had practically been a household name back in California and he didn’t plan on being anything less in Hawkins. </p><p> </p><p>While Billy may have been miserable about the whole situation, Maxine was ecstatic. Billy couldn’t understand, she was leaving all her friends back home for a whole new life and she was happy about it? There had to be something wrong with her. But he guessed it would be a lot easier for her to make friends than it would be for him. She was in middle school, how hard could it be? Unlike him, facing the world of high school cliques. Of course, he didn’t think it would be too hard for him to find a place at the top of the food chain if he landed that spot on the baseball team. </p><p> </p><p>That was if <em> ‘King Steve’ </em>didn’t get in the way. </p><p> </p><p>He felt like from the moment he stepped foot inside of Hawkins, the only thing he heard about was fucking <em> Steve Harrington. </em> How <em> amazing </em> he was at basketball, how he was going to lead the basketball team to nationals this year for sure. How his dad was <em> already </em> arranging scouts to come to the games and recruit him. The guy was practically a <em> god </em>in this town. He couldn’t wait to meet him, honestly, and turns out it would be sooner than he thought. </p><p> </p><p>Hawkins High School wasn’t <em> huge </em>, but it was a bit hard to navigate, though he refused to ask for help. So what if it caused him to be late? What were they going to do? Give him detention on the first day of school? Yeah, right. So, he was late and that was that. But on the way to his fourth period class, he must have been so enveloped in his schedule that he ran right into someone, stumbling back, hitting his shoulder on a row of lockers.</p><p> </p><p>When he looked up, he was met with a pair of wide, brown eyes that quickly caught his attention. Then it was the hair. Big, voluminous, how he did it was beyond Billy. He scanned the boy’s face for another moment before he realized how <em> weird </em>it was for him to just be staring at this guy, so he stood up straight again, fixing his jean jacket and plain white shirt to his liking before turning his attention to the boy in front of him.</p><p> </p><p>“Shit, I… uh, didn’t see ya there,” Billy said with an almost awkward laugh, looking away for a moment before looking back at the guy. His heart was beating quick in his chest and he was going to pretend it was the fact that he was spooked from running into someone and not because he had just laid eyes on the most beautiful boy he sworn he had ever seen. </p><p> </p><p>See, that was the thing, Billy <em> did </em> like boys, <em> a lot </em> , but nobody could know. He had been deep in the closet since he was about fourteen and kissed Debby MacDonald on a dare. There just wasn’t a spark, a certain something that he knew he was supposed to feel kissing a girl for the first time. Then he thought that maybe it was just the girl. But then there was Tammy, and Jenny, and Carrie, and still nothing. He thought something was wrong with him, figured there must be if he didn’t <em> enjoy </em>kissing girls. </p><p> </p><p>Then as he got older, he found his eyes shifting more towards <em> boys </em> . Sometimes it was a quick glance in the locker room, secret glances that, if anybody knew he took them, he would be 6 feet under in no time. Other times it was longing gazes at Parker Jackson across the classroom while they were supposed to be reading, not being able to take his eyes off his soft freckles and sweet dimples. At that point, he <em> knew </em> what was wrong and it was much more than not liking <em> kissing </em> girls, it was a matter of not liking <em> girls </em>in general. He knew it was wrong, and he had tried so many times to get rid of the thoughts he had, to go out with a different girl every week to hopefully find the one who would finally prove him wrong. But alas, no such luck. </p><p> </p><p>Since then he hadn’t dared tell a soul about the thoughts he had, the longing he had for a more masculine build against his own rather than the feminine one he settled with for his own good. He knew nobody would support him for who he was- or rather <em> what </em> he was. So, he hid it deep inside of himself, locked away in a small, hidden part of his brain for nobody to see <em> ever </em>.</p><p> </p><p>A guy came knocking into Steve like a walking wall. Or at least it felt like that when his nervous hands fiddled, dropping the pen he was holding to the floor, the string it was attached to on the bulletin board, saving it. The pen moved like a pendulum along the white wall as he looked over the floor for the pen in the confusion the crash caused him. </p><p> </p><p>The guy spoke, and Steve looked up, thick hair staying in place in waves with all the product he used every morning to get it so. </p><p> </p><p>He chuckled back awkwardly, <em> caught </em> as he went to lean his shoulder against the musical sign-up poster on the board, stuffing his hands into his pockets. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” he said in a lack of anything better to say. </p><p> </p><p>“You new?” came quickly after, convenient as he tried to hide what he had been contemplating doing with the pen in between his fingers. Really, <em> new </em> wasn’t written across the guy’s forehead, not at all. But <em> not-from-Indiana </em>was. </p><p> </p><p>The way the two boys were eyeing each other was humorous, really. Steve wasn’t sure what Billy was seeing, but Steve was seeing lots of denim and a <em> chest </em> through thin white fabric. Something he’d never seen in real life before. <em> Straight from California.  </em></p><p> </p><p>Billy chuckled when the guy asked him if he was new. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, that obvious, huh?” he asked, looking back down at his schedule for a moment before returning his eyes toward the boy in front of him. He knew it couldn’t have been too hard to figure out that he wasn’t from around there just by the way he looked. He didn’t give off a very ‘small town Indiana’ type vibe with his single earring, mullet, and denim on denim. </p><p> </p><p>“‘M from California,” Billy said, also in response to the guy asking him if he was new. </p><p> </p><p>Steve straightened up with a smile, pulling both his hands out from within his jean pockets to extend a friendly hand to the boy. </p><p> </p><p>“Welcome. I’m Steve Harrington,” he introduced himself with the same relaxed charm his dad had taught him, only losing the <em> ‘sir’ </em> and the between-the-lines <em> thank you for your shown interest in me.  </em></p><p> </p><p>“We don’t get many Californians here,” he explained himself with a muted smile, letting him know it wasn’t because he didn’t belong but simply because he looked so out of place. </p><p> </p><p>Steve kept his cool, but really, he could <em> hear </em> the time ticking away. He’d chosen to come in late when everyone had already gone to class, have his privacy with the bulletin board and the sign-up for the musical. Obviously, the universe had a different plan for him, but he’d be damned if he was stuck by the bright neon sign of <em> ‘Musical Try-Outs’ </em>until the first wave of people spilled out from class. </p><p> </p><p>Billy’s eyes widened a bit at the name. <em> Steve Harrington </em> . The very same guy he had been hearing about for days on end, and now here he was, in the flesh. He seemed to live up to his name- <em> well, </em> as far as looks went, at least. He was nice looking in the pretty boyish charm sort of way. He was definitely the kind of guy every girl would surely swoon over, <em> including Billy himself </em>. But he was excited to see if he lived up to his name where it really counted - on the court. </p><p> </p><p>“Wow, the <em> Steve Harrington </em>I’ve heard so much about,” Billy halfway teased with a small smirk on his face, extending his free hand that wasn’t holding onto the strap of his messenger bag. He gave Steve’s hand a good, firm shake, before letting go and pulling his hand back towards himself. </p><p> </p><p>“That’s me,” Steve spoke with a practiced smile, living up to the expectations his name came with. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m Billy Hargrove, cool to meet you, I guess,” Billy said with a slight shrug, like he wasn’t talking to the most popular boy in the entire school, like he wasn’t talking to <em> ‘King Steve’ </em>.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I can tell, feel kinda like an animal at a zoo,” Billy joked with a chuckle. It wasn’t a completely false claim. He had gotten a lot of interesting looks, the sort of look people gave when they were trying to figure out who you were and just <em> what the hell </em> you were doing in their domain. It wasn’t all bad though, he had already made a point at winking at a few girls and watching them swoon. It was a sort of cat and mouse game as he figured out what girl he was going to claim as his. Of course, it didn’t really matter because he got bored, <em> fast </em>. And then it would be right on to the next. </p><p> </p><p>Steve chuckled shortly, large, brown eyes going to the empty hallway in an unconscious cautiousness. </p><p> </p><p>“You’ll find your place,” he smiled back at him like the easy friend he had a reputation of being. He started backing off, walking backwards to the classroom waiting for him around the corner and down the stairs, but not before speaking as he did so. </p><p> </p><p>“There’s always basketball tryouts,” he let him know on the background of eyeing his physique before disappearing around the corner, only his footsteps heard as he travelled quickly down the stairs, pen left hanging. </p><p> </p><p>Billy furrowed his eyebrows, watching Steve look behind him. He too took a glance over his shoulder and all he was met with was an empty hallway. When he turned back around, Steve was already backing away from him, speaking as he did so. </p><p> </p><p>“Uh… yeah,” Billy agreed, watching Steve as he got further and further away until he finally completely disappeared behind the corner leading to the stairs. </p><p> </p><p>“Over my dead body!” he shouted to him in response before trying to find his way to class again. He was good at basketball, sure, he liked it well enough, but it was no baseball, that was for sure. </p><p> </p><p>Billy took another look at his schedule before he began making his way to class. He took the same path he watched Steve take, around the corner and down the stairs. He watched as people crowded the halls, pushing past each other like cattle to get where they needed to go. It was like trying to swim against the current to make it to the correct hallway, but he made it nonetheless.</p><p> </p><p>He looked side to side, looking at the doors, trying to find classroom <em> 217 </em>. He felt like he was going to get dizzy from all the back and forth while he looked, but finally, at the end of the hallway on the right, he found it. He waited for a few people to pass before he reached for the door handle and walked inside. The class was pretty loud, kids sitting on desks and talking amongst themselves as they waited for class to actually start. He looked around for an empty seat, trying to look through all the kids. At first, he thought he must have made a mistake because there wasn’t one, but then he saw it, a seat right next to none other than Steve fucking Harrington. He hesitated a moment before walking over and taking a seat.</p><p> </p><p>He was occupied talking to a boy who sat a few seats behind him. He didn’t recognize him, but why would he? It was only his first day after all. He had hair so dark it was almost black and freckles that must have covered his whole body. He was talking loud, so loud that Billy thought he could almost make out what he was saying, but no luck.</p><p> </p><p>Billy turned his attention to his bag, pulling out a spiral and a pencil, getting ready.</p><p> </p><p>Deep in conversation with his loudmouth friend, Tommy, Steve didn’t notice a body dropping down on the chair close to him. </p><p> </p><p>“No way, that’s ridiculous,” he answered his friend, grinning widely. That got Tommy going again with <em> “Dude, I swear, they were, like, this big,”  </em>paired with a hand motion that, before the winter break, wouldn’t have made him cringe like it did now. </p><p> </p><p>“Man, quiet down. You’re talking to, like, half the class,” he told him, trying to save <em> Nancy </em> from hearing what his best friend was going on about, and Tommy followed suit like Steve’s word was law or something. Nancy was sitting next to Tommy, chewing her gum like it was <em> nothing, </em>her attending caught on- something next to Steve. He turned his head to ratty blonde hair and denim. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” he said to catch the new guy, Billy’s  attention, trying to be friendly but the cocky undertone of a deserving, popular jock wasn’t quite masked. Steve’s social life had been way too easy through school and he’d developed an internal image of himself on the throne after his peers painted the picture for him long enough. </p><p> </p><p>Billy perked up at the sound of someone speaking in his direction, turning his head towards Steve. His tone said everything he needed to to know. Maybe it was just a simple ‘hi’, but along with it came a certain type of self assertion and dominance. </p><p> </p><p>Billy was quick to assert dominance in his own way by sliding his denim jacket off and draping it over the back of the seat. He knew he was built bigger than Steve with more bulging muscle than Steve’s simple <em> lean </em>, and he fully planned on using it to his advantage. </p><p> </p><p>“Hi,” Billy responded, shooting Steve a small smile with teeth for the first time since they had met, “Who’s that?” he asked curiously, looking back at the boy Steve was talking to.</p><p> </p><p>Steve chuckled when Billy asked about Tommy. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, <em> that </em> moron?” he asked playfully, pointing a thumb backwards towards Tommy as he had previously turned to face Billy. Tommy responded by rising from his seat and going for the back of Steve’s head with a flat palm, but Steve won with his superior height and leaned even further forward, away from the pale hand coming for him. </p><p> </p><p>“Tommy,” Tommy introduced himself as he accepted his defeat, still without letting go of his pride as he sent a beaming, toothy smile to the new guy. Steve settled back in his seat after the playful drama with his best friend, leaning back in his chair yet again, enough to force his chair onto its back legs and held onto Tommy’s table behind him for support. </p><p> </p><p>Billy grinned when Steve called the guy a moron. He turned in his seat to look at the boy for a second before looking back at Steve just in time to see him dodge a hit. He laughed, looking back to the boy behind Steve. Part of him wanted to see him get hit, watch him react to his hair getting messed up a little bit, maybe even see him fight back. But, sadly, that didn’t happen.</p><p> </p><p>“Tommy,” Billy repeated with a nod, like he was testing out the name, “I’m Billy,” he held his hand out to Tommy and they shook hands, shifting his legs so now they were actually hung off the each side of the chair instead of the front. </p><p> </p><p>Now that he could actually get a good look at the boy, he noticed more things about him. He was wearing a polo and jeans, similar to what Steve was wearing, almost. He had to be at least a few inches shorter than Steve and a bit heavier set, but not by much. </p><p> </p><p>“You play basketball too?” Billy asked curiously.</p><p> </p><p>Tommy’s whole face lit up when he was asked about his role on their basketball team. </p><p> </p><p>“Wildcats!” he turned to the room and shouted, fists shooting into the air and a serious look appearing on his face, eyebrows set low and knit together. Some guy <em> whooped, </em> and whistles were heard after a single chant of <em> Wildcats! Get your head in the game! </em> was heard. Steve just watched in amusement, knowing he was the center of the thing with his role on the team. He didn’t have to chant along, that was done for <em> him </em> as head of the team. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, Tommy plays hard. At least when he’s trying to impress his girl,” Steve grinned, more focused on Tommy than Billy, the guy he was actually speaking to. It was fun to tease Tommy, especially after all the years they’d had together. It was like teasing your brother, the one Steve didn’t have and instead found in Tommy very early on. </p><p> </p><p>Tommy responded by making a show of cockily kissing his girl, Carol, sat by his side, on her lips hard, arm going around her shoulder and squeezing her into him. </p><p> </p><p>Steve smiled fondly and turned to Billy, raising his eyebrows shortly along with his shoulders in a shrug before watching Nancy walk into class with her best friend, Barbara. He quickly let his chair fall back onto all four legs and he sat up straight, his smile reaching his eyes as he reached hers. She moved hair behind her ear as she smiled back shyly and then to the floor, books kept between her arms to her chest as she found a spot in the front with Barbara. <em> Smitten.  </em></p><p> </p><p>Billy’s eyes snapped to Tommy with a wide smile. He didn’t join in himself, but watched him with excitement running through his veins from all the yelling and loud noises, suddenly feeling more hyped up than before. </p><p> </p><p>He chuckled when Steve brought up the fact that Tommy worked hard if it was to impress ‘his girl’. He wasn’t sure who that girl was until he made a point of kissing her.</p><p> </p><p>“I mean, I guess you gotta have some sort of incentive,” Billy said, returning the shrug that Steve gave him. Then something quickly caught Steve’s attention and his entire demeanor changed. His chair fell back to four legs and his smile was <em> huge </em> . Billy was quick to turn his head to see just what- or rather <em> who </em>it was. </p><p> </p><p>When he turned his head, he was met with two new faces just across the classroom. One was a tall girl with short red hair, the other was shorter with long brown hair and a smile that almost rivalled Steve’s. <em> Bingo.  </em></p><p> </p><p>“That your girl,” Billy asked, turning his head back to Steve who still had a big goofy grin on his face. He was definitely entranced by her either way.  </p><p> </p><p>Steve looked to Billy when he spoke to him, grin disappearing as he wondered about the new guy’s question. </p><p> </p><p>“What? No, Carol is,” he answered, pointing a thumb to Carol behind Billy, hearing his question wrong as he was far away on cloud <em> Nancy. </em> And of course, using a bit of logic he would be able to realize that they weren’t talking about <em> Tommy’s girl </em>but about his - especially as it would have been really hard to miss Tommy and Carol making out just before. </p><p> </p><p>Billy furrowed his eyebrows when Steve said that Carol was his girlfriend. He hadn’t heard her name directly, but he was pretty sure that Carol was the one Tommy was swappin’ spit with right behind them, not the girl Steve was just staring at. </p><p> </p><p>“No- not Tommy, <em> you, </em>” Billy clarified, looking back at the girl who had now taken a seat with her friend on the other side of the classroom. </p><p> </p><p>“Is <em> that </em>your girl?” he gestured with his head over to the brunette girl, dangly earring swaying as he did so. He was trying to be somewhat subtle, trying not to grab her attention, only Steve’s. </p><p> </p><p>Steve blinked before going to look where Billy was looking, to where he knew exactly who was sitting. </p><p> </p><p>“No,” he started, not going to lie. </p><p> </p><p>“She’ll be soon,” Tommy quickly followed, leaning in over his table with a wide grin, nudging Steve’s shoulder with a wink as a promise. </p><p> </p><p>Steve smiled and shook his head, and while he thought Tommy was both being ridiculous <em> and </em>wrong, the idea he was putting out did excite him. It wasn’t a secret that he was hoping for just that, ever since he got to look into her eyes at the end of last year. Wasn’t a lie that he was heart set on it after kissing her at the start of the new year. </p><p> </p><p>He caught Nancy’s eyes as they were looking at and obviously talking about her, and she smiled back before returning to her conversation with her best friend. </p><p> </p><p>Billy grinned at Tommy’s comment. </p><p> </p><p>“You better make your move, man,” he told Steve, stealing one quick glance at Nancy before turning his head back towards both of the boys. She was pretty, sure, but not really Billy’s type. Back in California, he would usually go for someone more like Carol than Nancy. He could tell just from the way she looked and acted so far that she was more of a quiet type which only contrasted Billy in every single way. He also wouldn’t step on Steve’s toes like that. It was clear that the guy liked her and he wasn’t going to be petty- <em> for now at least </em>.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, he did! Didn’t you hear about-,” Tommy started but was interrupted by a woman slapping a stack of papers down in front of Tommy on his desk, making him lean back into his seat in surprise. She looked like she had permanently knitted her eyebrows together behind the rim of her glasses, and the conservative cardigan she wore fit her look. </p><p> </p><p>Steve quickly turned around in his seat, turning to face the chalkboard on the wall, eyes catching Nancy on the way, which pleased him. </p><p> </p><p>“Mr. Hagan,” the teacher addressed Tommy in a sort of dominant greeting before continuing to her desk, leaving the boy with a stack of papers to hand out. Clearly, this was not news as Tommy knew exactly what to do, getting up not long after and starting his round by Steve loyally. </p><p> </p><p>Steve just looked amused as he watched him, leaving the papers in front of him untouched. <em> Class </em>was his least favorite part of class. </p><p> </p><p>Billy jumped when the teacher slammed a stack of papers on Tommy’s desk but he was sad that he didn’t get to hear the story. He felt that there were so many things he still didn’t know, so many stories he still hadn’t heard, and just when he was about to get a little insight, the teacher had to come and ruin it. </p><p> </p><p>Billy turned back around when Steve did, facing the board, almost scared of what the teacher might do if he didn’t. He looked at his papers when Tommy set them on his desk before turning back to Steve. </p><p> </p><p><em>‘Mr. Hagan’ </em>he mouthed with an over exaggerated expression as a way of mocking their teacher and hopefully getting Steve to smile again.</p><p> </p><p>When Steve caught Billy’s eyes, he mouthed something to him and Steve smiled at the new kid. He was something, that Californian guy. He obviously caught up quick and wasn’t shy. He was sure he was going to hear more from him. Sure they all were. </p><p> </p><p>“Glad to be back from break, I take it, Mr. Hagan?” the teacher spoke with a tone that meant business, directed to the freckled boy handing out papers like a teacher’s pet, forced into the position against his will. </p><p> </p><p>Steve started scribbling down after turning the papers in front of him around, trying to hide his grin when he ripped off a corner of the back paper, blank on both sides except for his writing, handing it off to Carol after. </p><p> </p><p>Carol popped a bubble of gum in amusement when she read the note, handing it off to her best friend, Tina, next to her. </p><p> </p><p>Billy broke his odd expression when he succeeded in making Steve smile in amusement. He liked seeing his smile, his teeth all perfectly straight and as white as pearls. The way his eyes got all squinty. He tried so hard not to think about how cute it was, how cute <em> he </em>was. But it was hard.</p><p> </p><p>He tried to focus on what Steve was writing, trying to read it as he went, but before he could even make out the first word, it was folded and handed over to Carol. Billy frowned for a moment before picking his pencil up off his desk and writing a note towards Steve. </p><p> </p><p><em> ‘Got something you wanna share with the class, pretty boy? ;)’ </em>he wrote before folding the small piece of paper in half and reaching over quickly to set it on Steve’s desk. </p><p> </p><p>Steve looked at Billy in surprise when he received a note from him after just passing one to his friend not even a moment before. This guy was quick. <em> Not shy.  </em></p><p> </p><p>He unfolded it and was even more surprised when he read what it said. No one had ever said anything remotely close to Steve like that before, but now the new guy was. </p><p> </p><p>He answered with a <em> ‘Tommy’s voice really carries’ </em>as an explanation, though the original note in question held a joke including Tommy’s potential for starring in the musical with said voice of his, folding the note after. </p><p> </p><p>He looked at the new kid and tried to figure him out, taking a moment to himself to do so. Someone pressed their palm into his shoulder and he looked to the side to see someone passing the note back to him. From the direction it was coming from, and Nancy’s large eyes on him, he realized it had been past her. <em> Carol.  </em></p><p> </p><p>Sure enough, accepting the note and turning to Carol, she was smiling at him like she just did him a favor. </p><p> </p><p>Opening the, now, second note on his desk, he saw that someone had written about his and Nancy’s New Years’ romance. And it <em>wasn’t </em>Tommy. <em>How many people had gotten the note? </em>There was <em>‘the start of something new !’</em> written, looking like a girl’s handwriting, and something written by Tommy that he really hoped Nancy didn’t see. He crossed it out fast, blacking it out beyond recognition and folding it, hiding it from daylight. </p><p> </p><p>The teacher spoke and he had to look up to pay attention. He turned his papers back around to keep up with class, and he handed Billy his note back quickly as the teacher was looking away. </p><p> </p><p>Billy met Steve’s hand in the middle this time, brushing fingers as he quickly pulled the note back to his body. He waited for the teacher to turn back towards the chalkboard before he opened the note he once gave Steve- at least, that’s what he was <em> supposed </em> to get.</p><p> </p><p>He let his eyes glance over all the comments. Something about the start of something new, something about karaoke, something about focusing on basketball. He was so confused, he looked over at Steve with furrowed eyebrows and a small frown of confusion. </p><p> </p><p><em> ‘What’s this?’ </em> Billy wrote quickly and threw the note to Steve, having it land right in the center of his desk. Obviously, it was something that happened before he moved, something that Steve must be embarrassed about.</p><p> </p><p>Steve was confused when he got the note back, thought what he told Billy about Tommy wasn’t really that interesting. Especially not interesting enough to warrant <em> that </em>look on Billy’s face. </p><p> </p><p>When he opened the note, the paper was way too scribbled on. <em> Oops </em>, he thought as he realized how he’d just included the new guy in all his and his friends’ business, especially as he was the same guy who just before caught him thinking about signing up for the school musical. He wasn’t sure if the guy realized what he was doing there though. He hoped to God he didn’t. </p><p> </p><p>“I guess someone’s not <em> realized </em>winter break is over,” the teacher spoke out loud all of a sudden, voice raised in authority. </p><p> </p><p>It took Steve a moment to realize that he was being spoken to and that he triggered it, too, but when he did, it was too late to apologize. </p><p> </p><p>“All of you, detention, after school. Help the drama team work on the set for the musical,” she said before a unison of groans were heard around the room and she asked them if they wanted that after school activity to become a regular thing, which got people to settle down. All Steve cared about were Nancy’s large eyes on his as she realized she got detention for the first time, but with Steve’s silly smile along with a careless shrug, she dropped the anxiety and worry and instead bit her lip in a smile of excitement as she turned back to her notes. </p><p> </p><p>As soon as the word detention left the teachers mouth, Billy’s heart sunk into his stomach. There was no way his dad was going to be happy about that one, but maybe there was an upside to all of this. And maybe… just maybe, his name was Steve Harrington.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Another one!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Billy sighed, walking down the hallway towards the auditorium. The halls were empty, just like when he talked to Steve earlier. It almost felt eerie, the lack of people, the only thing that could be heard being the steps of Billy’s boots. Something just felt off, but he carried on until he was met with a set of two large doors with the word </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Auditorium’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>above them. This was definitely it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He swung open one of the doors, stepping through. The sound of the door closing behind him echoed, grabbing everyone’s attention for a moment before they went back to doing whatever job they were assigned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Mr. Hargrove, I see you’ve finally decided to join us,” the teacher exclaimed, clearly annoyed by the fact that he was late to detention, even if it was just by a few minutes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry- I, uh. I had to get my bat bag out of the car,” Billy replied, motioning to the bag resembling a backpack on his back. He swung it off onto one arm, making sure not to hit himself with the bat along the way. He set it down in one of the folding chairs of the auditorium before turning his attention back to the teacher. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, you can be bat boy later. Right now you’re going to get to work on that tree,” she said, holding out a paint brush she had so kindly been keeping reserved for Billy. He had half a mind to roll his eyes, but he really didn’t need another detention, so he just took the paint brush and headed towards the stage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, is there any chance I can leave, like, a few minutes early? I’m already gonna be late for tryouts and-,” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t push it,” the teacher warned, giving him a look that Billy knew not to mess with. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, ma’am,” he complied before walking up the steps to the stage. It was pretty crowded with different people working on different things, but it didn’t take him long before he found what he should be working on, a large tree in the middle of the stage. A few other students were working on it as well, coating on layer after layer of thick brown paint onto the wood. If Billy was being honest, he would much rather have done the woodworking than the painting, but it’s not like he had much of a choice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He dipped the fresh paint brush into the paint before running it over the tree just like everybody else. He started from the top before he moved to get a good coating on the base. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he crouched down, he could see that just behind the tree were Steve and the girl he had seen earlier, </span>
  <em>
    <span>something Wheeler</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he wasn’t sure of her first name. They were painting a large crescent moon together, laughing and smiling like idiots. It was clear that they liked each other, so one of them needed to just man up and do it. It was frustrating to him, how painfully obvious it was, but they were both probably totally oblivious. There was also just something about </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wheeler</span>
  </em>
  <span> herself that didn’t sit right with Billy, but he couldn’t figure out just what it was. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jealousy?</span>
  </em>
  <span> maybe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve and Nancy were sat on the floor of the stage as they painted details onto a large half moon. Steve was holding onto the middle of the moon with paint stained fingers, a creamy tone of white that definitely did not stand out from his own tone of skin much but could be seen as the opacity differed greatly, the paint very full in comparison. He was sat on his butt as opposed to Nancy who sat on her knees, smaller brush in her hand as she used a darker tone to color in the craters. Steve’s job of just holding the paper mache moon probably didn’t qualify as </span>
  <em>
    <span>working</span>
  </em>
  <span>, as he was supposed to with the punishment of detention, but he </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>working. He was working hard in charming Nancy Wheeler, one leg popped up as the other folded in front of him on the floor, legs open and an arm swung casually over the leg popped up. He was saying just about anything he could think of to make her smile, anything he could think of to make her flush. There was just something about that, figuring out what really reached in and got to someone’s heart, quickening its beat. With Nancy it was just about anything </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span>, anything </span>
  <em>
    <span>ridiculous</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Anything that got her to tell him what an idiot he was, but in the fondest voice he got from her. It was thrilling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both Nancy and he had stayed clean of getting any paint on their clothes, but when he let his eyes stray from Nancy for a moment, he’d see Tommy somewhere with paint on his cheek like an idiot. He’d have paint on the chest of his shirt to match and it was from less than five minutes ago when he flirted with some girl to look like a big shot and got the wrath of Carol right after. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t know, but Nancy’s best friend, Barbara, was watching them with scepticism from across the stage, working on the stupidly large tree, painting the base a dark brown. He probably wouldn’t have cared, either, if he’d known. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy glanced at Steve and the girl one last time before turning his attention back to the tree he was painting but he couldn’t get those two off of his mind. Stupid Steve Harrington and his stupid fluffy hair and his stupid doe eyes and his stupid pretty face. Stupid Wheeler with her dumb smile that made Steve melt. Maybe it was a little petty of him to think such things but he couldn’t help it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just after a few more strokes of the brush along the prop tree, he got distracted again, but not by Steve and the girl, this time by someone else. It was the girl he had seen earlier, she walked in with Wheeler, he could only assume they were friends. She too seemed to be caught up in the affair between Steve and the girl he was talking to, maybe she had some sort of inside information. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, what’s going on between those two?” Billy asked, motioning his paint brush over to the two love birds. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Barbara looked at the new guy as he spoke to her. She looked sceptical looking at him too, but it eased up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You mean Nancy and </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘King Steve’?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>she asked him, sounding sarcastic in her pronunciation of Steve Harrington’s nickname. What Nancy was doing with the King of the school was beyond her. It was such a shift from the girl Nancy used to be, and she felt her slipping from between her fingers. Her best friend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know. I don’t think they know either,” she said, finally turning her attention to the tree instead of the love birds. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy chuckled at the use of Steve’s nickname, eyes now settled on the girl on the other side of the tree, loose hand brushing lazy strokes along the tree. Finally, he knew the girl’s name, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Nancy. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He thought it fit her well, it was just the look and the vibe she gave off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, doesn’t look like it,” he responded, looking back to Nancy and Steve, still acting like love sick idiots. They definitely had no idea what the hell they were doing, still waiting for reality to come knocking on their door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m Billy by the way,” Billy commented, figuring she should probably know his name. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Barbara was hesitant when Billy introduced himself but she complied. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Barbara,” she let him know before taking just one last glance at her best friend and her new love interest. She looked like what she was seeing bothered her. Really, it was just seeing Steve Harrington so close to Nancy, touching her like he had any right. Like he wasn’t leading her in directions she had never before had any interest in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve was reaching over with a wide smile, moving a soft thumb down her cheek, giving her a vertical, warm toned, white line. She was blushing, but it wasn’t evident as to whether she was reacting to getting paint on her cheek or being caressed by Steve. Maybe it was both. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy nodded when the girl said her name, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Barbara. </span>
  </em>
  <span>With that information, he turned back to Steve and Nancy just in time for him to catch Steve smearing cream colored paint on her cheek and her, seemingly, enjoying it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m pretty sure that guy could run over a dog with his car and she’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>still </span>
  </em>
  <span>swoon over him,” Billy criticized like he wouldn’t do the same exact thing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve just had this sort of charm about him that got every girl's attention. Well- every girl </span>
  <em>
    <span>and Billy. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He still didn’t know how to feel about the little crush he already had forming on the ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>king</span>
  </em>
  <span>’ of the school, but one thing was for sure and that was that it would spell out nothing but trouble for him in the end. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Barbara actually let out a chuckle at Billy’s very accurate joke about Nancy’s infatuation with Steve Harrington. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pretty sure Nancy could run </span>
  <em>
    <span>him </span>
  </em>
  <span>over and he’d still want to get in her pants,” she joked back, letting some of Steve’s colors show - at least, the ones she thought she knew of. But like that wasn’t every single guy anyways. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy looked up at Barbera with a wide grin, amused by what she had said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He only wants her so that he can get laid?” he asked, though he should have already known that’s what he wanted all along, because isn’t that what any teenage boy wanted in the end? But still, to him it seemed like he may be in it for something more, like he actually liked this girl and it wasn’t all for the main goal of sex. It seemed that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Steve </span>
  </em>
  <span>himself might be different, but alas, he must have been wrong.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Barbara admitted. She didn’t know Steve Harrington, couldn’t say anything for sure. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Takes a certain kind of person to be crowned King of the school,” she commented, looking at Billy as she did. She then seemed to return to painting the prop, returning to her own space and mind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve was still without a brush in his hand. Thought it’d be better to leave that to the pros. He was good at entertaining though, and it wasn’t much he got to talk to Nancy without some guy walking by, searching out Steve to exchange a sentence or two. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nancy looked around to find Barb and calmed when she saw her enveloped in work as well. It was odd for her to not be next to her, doing this detention together, but the pull of Steve was strong. Stronger. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy just nodded, letting the conversation drop there. And she did have a point, you don’t get the title of ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>king’</span>
  </em>
  <span> by just standing there, something must have given him the title and something told Billy that it wasn’t just his skills on the court.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy looked back at the tree painting, but then something caught his eye. A small, sparkling gem was lying on the floor. He grinned, an idea coming into his mind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, watch this,” Billy nearly whispered over to Barbara as he leaned over, picking the gem up off the floor. He looked back at her with a mischievous look before turning his attention towards Steve. He watched him for a second, aiming the little gem in his hand before throwing it. He watched it fly through the air. It almost felt like it was going in slow motion before it hit Steve square on the top of the head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve’s hand went to the top of his head when something small but oddly weighty for its size bounced off the top of his head. He heard it bounce to the floor from his head and he looked around to spot it. He quickly did, a warm colored, violet rhinestone glinting from the lights above hitting it. He picked it up, using his long limbs to reach across the floor, shirt having ridden up if it wasn’t for him having it stuffed into his pants with the help of his belt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Next, he looked around to see where the hell it came from, and when he immediately met the eyes of and saw the expression on the new guy’s face, he knew. He looked at him in question, not understanding what that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>for</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy quickly shot Steve a wink before he could turn back to look at Nancy. It was a way to sort of show Steve that it was a joke, that he didn’t mean it in a serious, hurtful way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nancy looked at Steve in question and his attention turned too easily to her. He gave her a relaxed smile, telling her everything was fine, as if rhinestones dropped from the ceiling on a regular, and they turned back to the details of the moon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t look back at Billy, didn’t confront him. He kept the rhinestone in the palm of his hand, moving it between his fingertips as he listened to Nancy talk as she painted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy looked away from Steve when he looked back at Nancy. Maybe it was the wrong move, but he didn’t really care because he found it amusing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked around again for something to throw at him, nothing too big, but something like the rhinestone. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything else so he just went back to painting the tree. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was so immature of Billy, so stupid of him to literally throw something at Steve. It was like in elementary school when a boy would pull a little girl's pigtail, picking on her because he didn’t know how to properly express his feelings. That’s what Billy felt like, except he knew how to express his emotions properly, he just </span>
  <em>
    <span>couldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometime during the detention, when Steve knew Billy wasn’t looking at him as he saw him carrying the large tree to its position on the stage for the actual drama club to see what they thought of it, he snuck a look at him. Just one look. It was more absentminded than anything else, as he after let himself get a look at the drama kids and their passion for the project. They were the kind of students you didn’t really notice, at least the ones Steve didn’t notice. He wouldn’t even have known who was on the team and who was just in detention if it wasn’t for who was fooling around and who wasn’t. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rhinestone stayed in his palm as he played with it absentmindedly, taking a moment to himself in what was usually a busy time for him, being the king of the school. It was no joke. And when Tommy came flying at him, or so it felt like, trying to point out Steve’s work on the moon because </span>
  <em>
    <span>any really ugly craters must be his</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he really didn’t know if he could be both. If he could be anything but King. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After the tree was fully painted, they had been told to move it. It was Billy, Barbara, and another guy from the drama club helping them move it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy had ditched his denim jacket, having thrown it on the floor somewhere, not really caring where. They tried a few different places, center upstage, center downstage, finally settling on down right stage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As soon as the tree was put down, Billy let out a heavy breath, putting his hands on his hips. The tree might not look that heavy, but it was and it was Billy and Barbera doing most of the work.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy looked around, turning his head to see if there was any more work to be done. Of course there was but it looked like all of the stations were covered from what he could see. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can I go now?” Billy asked his teacher, walking to the edge of stage, steps echoing as he walked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The teacher looked up at him with a skeptical expression, like she was just about to tell him no. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to come back?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. Billy looked at her like she was crazy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um- </span>
  <em>
    <span>no</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he replied, hands now off of his hips, not wanting to push his luck by coming off </span>
  <em>
    <span>too </span>
  </em>
  <span>disrespectful. He wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to hold off on tryouts. He was sure that if he didn’t show up on the field soon, he would ruin the one chance he had to make anything good out of the move to Indiana. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, we still need your help with a few things.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At that Billy groaned because he knew it was more lifting and he really didn’t want to wear himself out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But can’t you just have…,” he trailed off, looking around the room until his eyes landed on the perfect person, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Steve </span>
  </em>
  <span>do it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy jogged over to Steve and grabbed his bicep, trying to get him up off of the floor. He could tell he wasn’t going to be happy, but he had to do what he had to do. He shot him a look, one practically pleading for him to take over his spot with moving around the freshly painted props. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve looked up in confusion when the same solid, moving force came towards him much like it did earlier. He was pulled up by his arm from the floor, his legs assisting for some reason Steve himself didn’t know. He was having fun with Nancy, but now the new guy was walking him towards the drama teacher, giving him a look. He followed like the good samaritan he was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please,” Billy whispered, looking over to Steve for a moment. His eyes were large, fearing that because of his little stunt earlier Steve might say no. He honestly couldn’t blame him, but he also couldn’t promise he wouldn’t be pissed if he didn’t agree.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All you have to do is move around a few props and you’re done,” he made sure to add, finally letting go of Steve’s arm, returning his hand to his side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve stopped walking when Billy stopped holding onto him, and he stood there and looked at him for only a short moment before easily and quickly agreeing. He stuffed his rhinestone hand into his pocket, pulling it back up without the stone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, sure,” he said, but a hesitation was to be sensed in his voice coupled with his looking over at Nancy. He looked back at Billy after and forced a smile, confirming his agreement to help. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy let out a sigh of relief when Steve said he would do it, that he would take over the role that he himself was supposed to play in getting the set prepared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks man, I really owe ya one,” he said, as more of an odd comment than an actual promise that he would somehow make it up to Steve. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Going to try out?” Steve asked, a lazy hand rising towards a bag with a bat sticking out. He was sounding a little disappointed as the head of the basketball team, but accepting as the polite and friendly guy he was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” Billy replied, looking over in the direction of Steve’s hand to his own bag. It was obvious just by the bat sticking out of his bag what he was trying out for. He wasn’t sure how Steve felt about the fact that he was trying out for baseball, being the captain of the basketball team and all, but he was just glad he was willing to cover. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve nodded. “Good luck,” he wished him with a friendly smile and a single pat on his upper arm before walking to the center of the stage to see where he was needed. He did so, standing with his hands on his hips, and it wasn’t hard to figure out where to go. Go with the large guys. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy smiled quickly over to Steve before he turned around and jogged down the steps from the stage, back to the floor. He was trying to go a little faster than usual, trying to make up for all the time he lost helping with props in detention. He quickly grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and booked it out of the auditorium towards the locker room where he could change into his old uniform.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of detention lacked too much of Nancy, if you asked Steve. She was let go before him, honor student and all, and he was left with Tommy and Carol, wondering what could have been if he was more like Nancy and less like them. Then he wouldn’t have been in detention, would have been with Nancy and her friends. Probably studying, but who cares. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Nancy </span>
  </em>
  <span>still. He’d study if that’s what she wanted. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he was let go and people left in a hurry, with an exception of the drama club who stayed behind and worked because they actually liked that stuff, he spotted denim on the floor, not belonging. He went to it to inspect it and it was a miracle that it hadn’t touched any paint yet. He knew it was the new guy’s, but what made someone throw their stuff in a setting like </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>was beyond him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He considered letting it lie there, let him come back looking whenever he realized it was missing. Considered saying out loud, </span>
  <em>
    <span>hey, I think this is the new guy’s, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but he was sure no one knew him enough yet to want to keep it and hand it over to him. Well, anyone except Steve. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grabbed it and didn’t know why he was expecting the heat and fullness of Billy himself to be in the jacket when he did, but apparently he did because it felt different than what he thought it would. He went across the school with it over his arm, making his way outside to the big field, wearing a jacket of his own. It was just after New Years after all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After Billy swapped his street clothes for his baseball uniform plus a baseball cap, he was ready to hit the field. As soon as he got out there, the head coach and the assistant were waiting, looking like they were a few seconds from just leaving. He apologized profusely, saying how he got detention for passing notes in class and how he would have been here sooner if he could have been. But the head coach was quick to shut him up and told him to just go ahead and show them what he had to offer before they lost interest. So, he did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>First, Billy was told to demonstrate different pitches from the mound. First was his fastball, then his curveball, then a slider, then a change up. He did a few others as the coaches asked and then it was on to batting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stood at home plate on the right side, vertical to the pitcher's mound. He hit his bat on the plate once to knock any dirt off and then he was ready. The assistant coach threw him basically the exact same pitches he pitched before and he hit every single one of them. Except for the ones that were out of bounds and called as balls, of course. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then it was time to run the bases. First they had him run from home to first which he did in 4 seconds flat, not bad for a high school baseball player. Then he had to run the full bases, which they didn’t tell him his time for l but he thought he did pretty good- or as good as he could do. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They made Billy run a few more exercises and that was that, the tryouts were over. They said that they would get back to him and let him know if he made it or not and to hit the showers. He did as he was told, making his way from the baseball diamond to the locker rooms. He was about halfway there, bat in one hand, helmet in the other, glove tucked up under his armpit when he saw someone approach him. He couldn’t tell who it was at first, but then as he got closer, he recognized the figure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Steve?” Billy asked, stopping in his place, waiting for Steve to make it over to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve picked up his pace a little when Billy saw him and called out for him, slowing back down when he got closer. He stopped about six feet from him and held the jacket up and out. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Billy gave Steve a confused look, wondering what the hell he was doing out by the baseball fields after detention. But as he got closer, he saw what he had held in his hands and he understood why he came. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You left this,” Steve told him, eventually stepping closer to hand it to him properly. “Thought you’d miss it. Didn’t want you to lose it on your first day,” he told him, moving the jacket closer to pass it to Billy. “That would really suck,” he empathized, meeting his eyes as he waited for him to accept the jacket. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god,” Billy exclaimed with a smile, “Dude, you’re a lifesaver!” He went to reach for the jacket and then realized that his hands were full. He looked around awkwardly for a second, thinking of how he was going to hold something else. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can you just- like, put it over my shoulder or something?” Billy asked, jutting one of his shoulders closer to Steve, waiting for him to drape the denim over his right shoulder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve looked amused. Fondly so. “Let me just walk with you,” he said, offering his help, stepping to the side to walk next to him instead of standing in the way of where they were going. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy perked up when Steve told him he could just walk with him instead of handing it to him and leaving. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah that’d be great,” he said and began to walk, leading the way for Steve though he probably already knew where to go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened? You do good?” Steve asked him as he began to walk with him, turning his head and getting a good look at him for the first time, it felt like. When they met earlier, he’d been focused on getting the hell out of dodge, standing by the signup board for the musical. In class, there had been Tommy. In detention, it had been Nancy. Now he just saw Billy, dressed up in what wasn’t their red and white uniforms, freckles on his face reminding him that he wasn’t from here. He had eyes more blue than he’d noticed earlier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Course I did good,” Billy answered, sounding just as cocky as Steve had sounded earlier, “How was the rest of detention?” He was curious to know if he’d gotten everything done that needed to get done or if he’d goofed off some more with Nancy. He figured it could go either way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve was silent for a moment before answering. Really, nothing much had happened after Billy left. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know how it is,” he answered him. “Think the drama club’s pleased. I hope so,” he added to it, again glad that he didn’t help paint the details on the moon. It was their thing, and a couple of useless guys having detention shouldn’t get to ruin that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Guess so,” Billy answered with a shrug, “I’m sure they loved it, actually getting help with the sets even if it was sort of forced.” He figured that, even then, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and they would take what they could get. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, can you hold this for a second?” Billy asked, holding out his baseball bat to Steve. He knew that Steve could have opened the door and that would have been fine, but it was like his second nature to open the door for people, like it was wired into his brain. His dad told him it was just another part of ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>respect and responsibility’</span>
  </em>
  <span> or whatever the hell his little bullshit saying was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve looked like his reactions were faster than his brain when he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the bat, large eyes going to question him after. He had stopped walking, waiting for whatever Billy was going to do. Maybe it should have been obvious that said thing was opening the door right in front of them, but Steve didn’t know the guy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Billy mumbled, walking up to the door, stopping at the brickwall just beside it for a moment and hitting the toe of each cleat on the wall twice to knock the dirt off before going to push against the door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ladies first,” he teased, gesturing for Steve to walk through the door to the gym before himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Steve gave him </span>
  <em>
    <span>a look </span>
  </em>
  <span>when he referred to him as a lady, blowing air out his nose audibly as a substitute for a laugh, paired with his eyebrows knitted together. </span>
  <em>
    <span>No one </span>
  </em>
  <span>talked like that to Steve here. The new guy just didn’t know. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked through the door anyways, inside to the men’s locker room. It was empty, but Steve was sure it wouldn’t be for long. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The bat was foreign in his hand, or so many would have agreed. He turned to the new guy, like he was waiting for him to say, </span>
  <em>
    <span>thank you, I got it now. See you around</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy watched Steve walk through the door before he stepped through the doorway himself. First, he walked over to his bag, assuming that Steve would follow suit since he had his bat and all. He stuck his helmet into the large opening in the bag, followed by his mitt and his batting gloves. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can take that from you,” Billy offered, holding his hand out for the bat. As much as he didn’t want to see Steve go, he also thought it would be weird to have him awkwardly stand there with his bat for longer than need be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve complied, taking a step towards him to stand a little behind him, reaching the batting end of the bat to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You think you’ll get it? Which position did you try out for?” he asked him, genuine interest this time. When he saw Billy first, he didn’t take him for a baseball player. Didn’t take him for any sports, really. Maybe football. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Steve stepped forward, Billy reached out, grabbing the grip of the bat and taking it from Steve. He readjusted it in his hand before turning to slide it into the side of his bag barrel first. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hope so,” Billy said, moving now to sit on the bench his bag was on. He began untying one of his cleats as he continued his conversation with Steve, “Tried out for pitcher.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah? Got some good arms there,” Steve observed with a small point of a finger, like that was just what guys told each other, Billy’s biceps bulging through the thin, white, long sleeves he was wearing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy looked up at Steve from his spot, sitting on the bench. There was a slight furrow in his brow and an odd smile on his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks?” he said, though it sounded more like a question than a response. He wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, coming from Steve, but he guessed it was just an odd compliment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy went back to untying his cleats, sliding them off one after the other. Then he pulled off his cap, shaking his hair out in a lazy attempt to fix the sweaty mess of curls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve watched Billy let down his hair and then cleared his throat shortly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay. I should go,” he said, reaching up and itching the side of his head before dropping his hand back down and shifting, ready to go. He didn’t know what was keeping him around. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy ran a hand through his hair, turning his attention back to Steve. He had almost forgotten that he didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>have </span>
  </em>
  <span>to be here, that he had just offered to help and then leave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, right,” he said with a small smile of realization, “Well, I’ll catch you around then.” Billy didn’t want Steve to leave, he wanted to keep talking, but he also knew he couldn’t just make him stay. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steve nodded. “Yeah,” he said, forcing a small smile for him afterwards as a means of </span>
  <em>
    <span>goodbye. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he left the locker room, he felt weird. He couldn’t get to the bottom of it, but he couldn’t shake it off either. He found Tommy, who always gave him something to think about. That guy talked enough to make up for one and every thought passing through someone’s head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy watched Steve as he left, from the moment he turned around to the moment the door shut behind him, and he disappeared as if he was never there in the first place. He slumped over, head held in his hands. He felt like screaming, like throwing his bat bag across the room because it wasn’t fair. It wasn't fair that Steve fucking Harrington got to make him feel this way, got to make his stomach twist into knots every time he came around and then just got to walk away like Billy was nothing, just another guy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But that was the thing, to Steve he was just another </span>
  <em>
    <span>guy</span>
  </em>
  <span> and that’s the part that frustrated him the most.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Billy stayed like that for another few seconds before he changed out of his uniform and back into his regular clothes. He probably smelled like shit because he didn’t shower, but at this point, he really didn’t care. He just wanted to go home and try to clear his head of everything related to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Steve Harrington</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
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